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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29496102">aurora</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoreRosemarinus/pseuds/KoreRosemarinus'>KoreRosemarinus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Darklina Child, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Love, Married Couple, Married Life, They're so in love with each other it hurts almost, This is so soft I don't know what came over me, the ending we deserved</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:53:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>775</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29496102</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoreRosemarinus/pseuds/KoreRosemarinus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Her husband reached out and put one of her rogue hairs behind her ear. </p><p>“What are you thinking about?”</p><p>She smiled like a sunburst, grasping for her hand’s warm hand and holding it to her cheek.</p><p>“Just how lucky I am.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova &amp; Alina Starkov, The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova/Alina Starkov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Galactic Idiots Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>aurora</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>oh fran you fucking ruined me. </p><p>I saw <a href="https://twitter.com/galacticidiots/status/1361408469258149891">this tweet</a> and was like "I'M WRITING THIS BECAUSE IMMA CRY IF I DONT" so yeah that's how that came about. I'm so soft for them and I wanted them to have a happy domestic ending. </p><p>Enjoy the baby fluff! Happy belated Valentine's Day all &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Long after the war, after everything had come to pass, Alina found herself awake with the sun tickling her nose. In all her life she never imagined her life would ever be like this - bathed in glorious sunlight with darkness lovingly cradling her sleeping form. </p><p> </p><p>She sat up in her bed and glanced next to her, her starlight white hair falling off her shoulders. She smiled at the image of her husband sleeping peacefully with their infant son resting alongside him. In tandem, their breaths created a beautiful symphony in the quiet bedroom that lit a glittering fire in her chest. Her lips quirked as she admired their matching heads of dark black hair, mussed from their rest. Alina reached out and gently grazed his warm cheek with her knuckles, taking care to not disturb their sleeping son. </p><p> </p><p>“Sasha?”</p><p> </p><p>Aleksander’s grey eyes opened and nearly glimmered as he lazily smiled at the image of his beloved.</p><p> </p><p>“Good morning dear.”</p><p> </p><p>Alina carefully moved so as not to wake her baby and kissed him as she did every morning. </p><p> </p><p>“How did you sleep?” she asked. </p><p> </p><p>“Well enough. Not as well as Seryozha,” he replied, rubbing his thumb on his baby son’s back. </p><p> </p><p>“No one sleeps as well as him, unfortunately.”</p><p> </p><p>He chuckled quietly. Their son, in a near miracle, managed to sleep soundly in the night without difficulty. Aleksander remarked that perhaps it was in his nature - being a culmination of both the light and the dark. He was a perfectly balanced child, and Alina relished in her son’s bubbly sounds and natural whimsy. She was so grateful that he was spared the pain of both her and Aleksander’s pasts, and the trauma of the recent war. He was the optimal embodiment of the twilight of their powers.</p><p> </p><p>Of their perfect love.</p><p> </p><p>Her husband reached out and put one of her rogue hairs behind her ear. </p><p> </p><p>“What are you thinking about?”</p><p> </p><p>She smiled like a sunburst, grasping for her husband’s warm hand and holding it to her cheek.</p><p> </p><p>“Just how lucky I am.”<br/><br/></p><p>It wasn’t long before their son woke with babbles and kicking legs. He reached for his mother, who blew raspberries on his tummy and tickled her son’s red cheeks. In the midst of his peals, his father sat up and gingerly took his wife and son into his arms. He nuzzled his son’s hair, taking in the powdery smell, and rubbed Alina’s back, feeling the deep abyss of his solitary life slowly ease in his chest. </p><p> </p><p>Alina leaned up and pressed her lips to his, and he felt the overwhelming love for her guide his darkness to her light, and as the two forces met, he felt at peace as if an ancient tempest finally calmed within him. </p><p> </p><p>The son forcefully patted their cheeks, breaking them apart. His wife’s face crinkled as her mahogany brown eyes met their son’s matching ones. She took him into her arms. </p><p> </p><p>“Do you want to see the lights again, Seryozha?”</p><p> </p><p>His perfect son giggled and he had never heard such a glorious sound. He leaned back on the headboard and watched them interact. He was at a loss as to how he could be so full of affection despite his acrid darkness. His ancient existence did not encourage attachment or love, and it seemed to be a fleeting thing much like how mortal years passed like days. It wasn’t until he saw his equal in Alina that he believed that there was something better for him. </p><p> </p><p>Balance, contentment, and all the happiness and joy he previously thought impossible. </p><p> </p><p>Alina held Sergei on her lap, pointing at the ceiling. Her fingers danced and then beams of light appeared on the ceiling, creating a small show of bright figures and swirls. Their son exclaimed in awe and then crawled to Aleksander and patted his sleeve.</p><p> </p><p>He chuckled. “Alright, alright.”</p><p> </p><p>After taking his son into his arms, he lifted his hand towards the ceiling and the shadows of the room mixed with his wife’s light. Sergei bounced up and down as he watched the magical performance. Alina scooted over to his side and rested her head on his shoulder, continuing the show with her fingers. She smiled at the pure love that resonated within the room. </p><p> </p><p>Aleksander could never figure out how and why he ever deserved such happiness. But, in this moment, as the sun rose on their dawn, he kept his family close to him and relished in the perfection of his current existence. </p><p> </p><p>“I love you, darling,” he said into a kiss on top of his wife’s head. </p><p> </p><p>“Nearly as much as I do?”</p><p> </p><p>“Far more than that.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><b>Sidenote:</b> Seryozha is a diminutive of Sergei (and Sasha is likewise for Aleksander)</p><p>"Aurora" in Latin means "dawn" so of course I had to make it the title. </p><p>I took the name from Anna's son from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina because I'm such a sucker for it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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